The rescue of the passen-gers from the U.S. Airwaysplane that crash-landed inthe Hudson River lastmonth didn’t just happen. Acomplex web of events pre-pared the pilots, cabin crew,rescue workers, and pas-sengers to work effectivelyin a well coordinated exam-ple of incident manage-ment.Operational Risk Manage-ment (ORM) procedureshelped develop the training requirements the pilots andair crew were required tomaster as part of their jobs.Incident Command proto-cols helped the ferry boatcrews and other water craftoperators know what to dowithout needing to call forinstructions. Additionally,it’s easy to see that basic“fire drill” practices proba-bly helped the passengersremain more-or-less calmthroughout the evacuationand rescue. These proce-dures and protocols did notdevelop in a vacuum, andcan’t be learned just byreading a book or clicking through an online course.They take practice.Not very long ago emergen-cies of this sort were proneto communications, jurisdic-

EMERGENCY TRAINING WORKS

tional, and procedural prob-lems. California firefightersand other emergency per-sonnel began developing the Incident Command Sys-tem during the 1970’s tohelp manage wildfires. Overthe last 40 years this con-cept has been tested andrefined through a variety of training exercises and ac-tual incidents Last year sev-eral changes were imple-mented and many of FEMA’s ICS exams andclasses have been revised.For the Civil Air Patrol Emer-gency Services, this meansthe addition of severalonline programs, even forthe most basic qualifica-tions. Anyone who has notyet completed FEMA’s ICSclasses required for theirpositions currently has theirquals suspended. Basiclevel quals require IS-100and IS-700, and higher lev-els add IS-200 and IS-800.These can be completedonline. Command levelquals require the IS-300and recommend IS-400classroom based training.Once these requirementshave been recorded, CAPES personnel must practicethe new procedures, using ORM to refine techniqueand create protocols. Thesetraining exercises should becoordinated with otheragencies when possible,and should be used to man-age non-emergency events.The old adage, “Practicemakes perfect,” certainlyapplies here. Practicing search and rescue proce-dures trains us to respondconfidently and coordinatesmoothly when we face ac-tual incidents.Capt. Barbara McCutcheon

Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane after it crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York City. (photo downloaded fromMSN News)

mander will not approve of any Lt Col promotions thatcome to him unless the appli-cants hold a Group staff posi-tion, or higher. If you want toget promoted, come join theGroup 2 staff team. We needyour help and we have anumber of openings. See yousoon and remember safety,safety, safety or is it safetyreport, safety report, safetyreport!Brandon Parks, Major, CAPDeputy Commander, Group 2list to keep everyone up todate. You can sign up for themailing list on the Group 2web page.Lt Col Bechtel reported to usthat we now have 19 pilots inthe group. All I have to say is,WOW! We also have hadnewsletters every monthsince June 2008 - keep upthe good work, CaptMcCutcheon. The newsletterscan be downloaded on theweb page. Lt Col Marshall letus know that the region com-We have a number of activi-ties on the calendar. The miniencampment is planned forMarch 14th at FITG. We havetwo AE/O-flight days plannedfor April 25 and August 1.There will be a AE bootcampon May 23 from 1500 to1700, just after the Group 2staff meeting. All membersare welcome to attend. Infor-mation for these activities willbe posted on the Group 2web page (http://gp2.pawg.cap.gov/). I willalso use the Group 2 mailing

We had a great JanuaryGroup 2 staff meeting. I wantto thankeveryone for attending. It isgood to know that we have somany hard working membersin the group. The next group2 staff meeting will be March14 at 1300. We also will havethe group 2 CAC meeting onthe same day from 1200 to1300. From now on, Group 2CAC meetings will be at1200, prior to the Group 2staff meetings.

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PENNSYLVANIA WING — GROUP 2

FEBRUARY SAFETY BRIEFING—TRAINING SAFELY – THE ONLY WAY TO TRAIN

This is the time of year whenevery squadron has someamount of down time for staff officers. The unit isn’t out onthe flightline, in the fieldtraining or even cleaning upoutside the squadron area.The cold, damp weatherbrings a sense of relaxing overtone and with it thethreat of a safety challenge.The threat is real but thedangers that accompany itcan be avoided through train-ing and proper risk manage-ment.So Commander, when wasthe last time you got yourstaff together and did somesenior member training onOrganizational Risk Manage-ment (ORM)? It’s probablybeen a while. You and therest of your staff have beenbusy, not only with CAP activi-ties but also with all thethings that make life some-what hectic at times. No onemeant to brush ORM training aside, but then again, it’s notthe most dynamic subject onwhich we spend our time. Itis a necessity if we are going to be successful at what wedo. In my opinion, a success-ful training evolution is one inwhich you accomplish most if not all the tasks you set outto train on, no one gets hurtand there is no damage to orloss of property. As a volun-teer organization, I believe wecan also throw in there thateveryone gained something from the training and evenhad some fun at it.Let’s look at OrganizationalRisk Management as the AirForce does for a minute andhow we should be incorporat-ing it into our training. Startby downloading the Civil AirPatrol Guide to OperationalRisk Management athttp://level2.cap.gov/documents/ORM_Guide.pdf.The guidebreaks down how to incorpo-rate risk managementthroughout the training evolu-tion not just into the planning portion, where most people

COMMANDER’S CORNER

Organizational Risk Management is a six-step process. Identify the haz-ards, Assess the Risks, Analyze risk control measures, Make control deci-sions, Implement risk controls, Supervise and review.

believe it stays. The 13pages of illustrations andtype will walk you through theprocess step by step a lotbetter than I can in a fewshort paragraphs.In a nutshell, OrganizationalRisk Management is a six-step process. Identify thehazards, Assess the Risks,Analyze risk control meas-ures, Make control decisions,Implement risk controls, Su-pervise and review. The CAPpamphlet displays this quitewell as a wheel. The processnever stops as you are con-stantly checking and re-checking your assessment of the situation. At any giventime your entire training evo-lution can go from a simplecompass course in a wide-open field to an actual sur-vival scenario under veryadverse conditions. Don’twait until this happens – beprepared through training.The part of the entire processthat you should be activelyconsulting is the Risk Matrix.The matrix can be easily cop-ied, laminated and carried asa part of everyone’s fieldgear. One side of the matrixlists the degrees Severity:Catastrophic, Critical, Moder-ate and Negligible. The con-gruent side of the matrix liststhe Probability: Frequent,Likely, Occasional, Seldom,Unlikely. By analyzing wherethe two aspects of the likeli-hood and damage that mayoccur from any activity, wecan make informed decisionsabout what is and what isn’tan acceptable risk.So, while the weather’s a biton the unfavorable side foroutdoor activities, how aboutgetting back to one of thefundamental basics thatmakes CAP the great organi-zation is really is – training your staff to train safely. Thisactually sounds like a greatperiod of instruction for theSquadron Safety Officer…….Capt Todd DaubenspeckCommander, Squadron 336

Safety, from page 2Safety, from page 2Safety, from page 2Safety, from page 2

I mean, you! Be sure you arehealthy and rested enough todo the flight. If you are upsetor under severe stress, youshould consider postponing your flight. Check thosemeds! Sometimes we get anew prescription from thedoctor. Many of these newscripts are not certified forpilots by the FAA. Check tosee if your medications areallowed by the FAA.Before any action is done tothe aircraft, make sure ALLappropriate paperwork is inthe aircraft. This means thatin addition to the requiredAROW documents check theaircraft binder. Make sure allCAP regulations and docu-ments are in the binder and

PILOT’S LOUNGE—PRE– AND POST-FLIGHT ACTIONS

One of the continuing trendsseen in regards to incidentsin aviation is that there areinsufficient pre and postflight inspections. A numberof aviation related incidentsare directly associated withitems that could have beendetected by a thorough andcomprehensive preflight. Inaddition, a proper post flightwill help to note potentialproblems which could be afactor on a subsequent flight.As stated in the April SafetyPins, preflight does not beginat the airport. It starts wellbefore you even get to theairport. First and foremost,make sure the most impor-tant safety feature of theaircraft is ready to go. By thatare current. I have found thatone of the most commoninfractions during an aircraftinspection is that the docu-ments are not current in thebinder.While checking the binder,pay attention to the inspec-tion dates and the hobbs/tach times for required main-tenance. DO NOT EXCEED